By Martin Banks - 1st March 2007
The so-called Franco-German relationship can still power Europe but both countries must show more willingness to adapt to a fast-changing world.
That was the message from Ulrike Guerot who was speaking at the Brussels launch of a major new study from the Paris-based Notre-Europe think tank.
The study, “New deal or déjà vu?” questions whether a Franco-German rapprochement can help “revitalise” the EU.
That the Franco-German love affair has cooled is a fact, said Guerot, a senior fellow with with the German Marshal Fund.
More worrying, she said, is the spreading conviction in Berlin that the two countries have engaged on different and irreconcilable policy paths or, rather, that Germany has moved on while France has remained stuck.
She added , “The feeling is not that we do not need France. It is that we do not need this France.”
Speaking at the German permanent representation to the EU, she said, “Both France and Germany have got to look forward if they are going to help reshape the EU. But they can still be the trigger for other countries in moving the EU forward."
“But there is no point in looking back to more nostalgic times in the relationship.”
Her comments were echoed by German ALDE MEP Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, who said that relations between the two countries were in a “hiatus” and were likely to remain so until the upcoming French presidential elections.
He dismissed the idea that Germany and France are at odds over the issue of the stalled European constitution.
“My hope is that Germany will use its presidency of the EU to salvage the draft treaty," said Lambsdorff.
“The consensus from today’s discussion is that there should be no new debate on the treaty's main points, such as QMV."
"Those EU states which have signed up to the treaty should live up to their responsibility and see that it comes into effect.”
Alain Richard, a former French defence minister, said that while the national interests of the two countries often differed, the Franco-German alliance could still play the same positive role in today’s EU of 27 countries.
“Close Franco-German cooperation has provided the motor for this process and can do so again. The alliance is still special," said Richard.
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